Work
During this project, we had to choose a species or a specific ecosystem that has been affected by humans and spread awareness to help save the thing of our choice. My group chose to research the bees, and how humans have harmed them. After finding out what humans do to threaten bees, which is using pesticides that kill bees and their flowers, deforestation, which takes away habitats that bees live in, and expelling large amounts of CO2, which makes flowers give out less nutrition, weakening the bees. Once we had accumulated our data and decided on our main points, we needed to spread awareness. We did this by hosting a public shaving of Kian, one of my group mates. Quite a few people came to see, but before we started the shave, I gave a quick monologue regarding the bees, to make sure they knew our true message. We also gave a presentation in our class, which we decided to take in a different direction than the rest of the class by making an educational skit. We did accompany our skit with a presentation to make sure all points were covered. Our final products are below.
Skit
Roles as follows:
Sean as a schoolboy
Ethan as the overall bad guy (pesticides, global warming, etc.)
Kian as a flower
Izagani as a bee
Sean: Wow! Stem has been so much fun today! I learned so much about carrying capacity, resources, predation, competition, and disease! I even learned about the carbon cycle, and all the other processes within our world. This day has been great! If only there was some way it could get even better…
(izagani enters the room)
Izagani: Well hello there little boy
Sean: What? Who are you
Izagani: I’ll tell you
(Izagani music and dance number)
I’m just a bee
Well i’m only a bee
And a bee is what i’m gonna be
But pollution has destroyed my home
Pesticides do not cause flowers to grow
And right now I am just a sad bee
Sean: well mr. bee, why are you so sad?
Izagani: Oh, I’ll tell you why
There are a lack of resources which I really hate
Not much flowers are left for me to pollinate
The industry has taken my home
Trees and bushes have been viciously mowed
So there’s now, no more hives for a bee
And while the bears they are, sometimes a predator
And different types of bees, sometimes hate each other
None of these can even really compare, to human pesticides put into the air
Make me sick, spread disease to us bees
Sean: Wow! That’s horrible Mr. Bee!
Izagani: I know!
Humans when you go out, please appreciate
The crucial bees that you seem to hate
We’re responsible for most of your food
Killing bees it is not really the mood
So for now, please just go save the bees
(song ends)
Izagani: You see little boy, us bees are in a lot of danger. We get involved in nearly all of the processes that make food on this earth, and yet we are dying and disappearing! Our precious resources our disappearing due to deforestation and industry! The leaves, and trees that we once used to make our hives are being chopped, and the flowers we pollinate are getting destroyed as well. You see, we do have some predators like bears who eat honey, and some competition in the sense that other bee populations often want to use our wildflowers, but our real enemy has become human impact. HUmans have been releasing pesticides that kill flowers and also make us sick. I guess you can say that I am really bee-pressed
Sean: With all of your habitats going away as well as all of your flowers, does that mean that your carrying capacity is also decreasing?
Izagani: Of course!
Sean: I thought so, with the decreasing amount of resources and hives to live in, it would seem that your ecosystem can’t support that large of a population anymore.
Izagani: Exactly, and our disappearance hurts everyone in the process.
Sean: Mr. Bee, how exactly do you interact with your ecosystem?
Izagani: I interact with other plants and animals in a multitude of ways. My place in the food web is odd, as I help the producers grow so the consumers may be able to eat.
(Kian as the flower comes in)
Izagani: You see, I come in as a pollinator, and I help spread the seeds of the flower and other plants throughout the ecosystem
(Rub up against kian)
Izagani: I drop the seeds everywhere and they grow into full size plants, which are then eaten up by the consumers
Sean: Wow! That’s amazing
Izagani: So I guess you can say that I hold the whole ecosystem together
Sean: Mr. Bee, how do you help cycle matter and energy across the ecosystem?
Izagani: well, as I said, I’m heavily involved with plants. And of course you know that plants create energy via photosynthesis and create glucose. Well, since I spread plant growth, I spread the amount of energy producers, then the animals consume these pants and in turn use them to create ATP themselves in cellular respiration. I personally get my energy from the sweet nectar of flowers, by in any case, I am in charge of a great deal of the energy flow of the environment. And of course you know about the 10% rule of energy. Well, since I create so many plants, I’m able to help create enough energy for the tertiary consumer since some energy is lost as each trophic level.
Sean: So you’re almost like energy control!
Izagani: Exactly! Us bees are also heavily involved in the carbon cycle of the world, as the very plants that we pollinate take in CO2 on the daily, and the carbon they store is passed on to other animals. However, there has been an exponential increase in CO2 due to human activity, and the pollen and different parts of the plant are acting very sensitive to it. This is making the food I get from plants less nutritious and it makes me weak. An imbalance in the carbon cycle due to a disproportionate amount of it in the atmosphere is hurting me! All of the plants and beings in the biosphere are negatively impacted when I am negatively impacted, as I make much of their food.
Sean: Wow looks like we need to take action now before it gets any worse
(evil music starts to play)
Sean: Oh no, what is that ominous sound?
Izagani: I know what it is, big industry has come to destroy us!
(Ethan enters)
Ethan: Mwahahahahaha! I am evil Mr. Industry, and I have come to deforest your lands, put carbon into the air with my big machines, and take your homes so I can make money!
Izagani: Oh no!
(Ethan kills kian)
Izagani: Not the flower!
Ethan: Do not fear little bee I am just building a new mall over this nature area, no harm shall be done.
Sean: But no! You can’t do that! (sean proceeds to explain how hurting the plants destroys homeostasis as the balance of plants and animals is out of whack and the bees maintain it)
Izagani: Yeah! (Talk about how this is causing a lack of plants and decreasing the amount of animals, less food for us all)
Kian: (Stands up, starts talking about how getting rid of the plants gets rid of the bees, which gets rid of the animals leading to a lack of biodiversity and that it is harmful)
Sean: (says more about biodiversity)
Ethan: Wtf I thought you were dead!
Izagani (talk about how humans depend on food and should not destroy the area for that reason)
Ethan thinks for a second, but decides he does not care and starts to destroy everything
Proceed to start to die, then sing lucid bees
Ethan expresses a change of heart, we sing don’t you forget about bees together
During this project, we had to choose a species or a specific ecosystem that has been affected by humans and spread awareness to help save the thing of our choice. My group chose to research the bees, and how humans have harmed them. After finding out what humans do to threaten bees, which is using pesticides that kill bees and their flowers, deforestation, which takes away habitats that bees live in, and expelling large amounts of CO2, which makes flowers give out less nutrition, weakening the bees. Once we had accumulated our data and decided on our main points, we needed to spread awareness. We did this by hosting a public shaving of Kian, one of my group mates. Quite a few people came to see, but before we started the shave, I gave a quick monologue regarding the bees, to make sure they knew our true message. We also gave a presentation in our class, which we decided to take in a different direction than the rest of the class by making an educational skit. We did accompany our skit with a presentation to make sure all points were covered. Our final products are below.
Skit
Roles as follows:
Sean as a schoolboy
Ethan as the overall bad guy (pesticides, global warming, etc.)
Kian as a flower
Izagani as a bee
Sean: Wow! Stem has been so much fun today! I learned so much about carrying capacity, resources, predation, competition, and disease! I even learned about the carbon cycle, and all the other processes within our world. This day has been great! If only there was some way it could get even better…
(izagani enters the room)
Izagani: Well hello there little boy
Sean: What? Who are you
Izagani: I’ll tell you
(Izagani music and dance number)
I’m just a bee
Well i’m only a bee
And a bee is what i’m gonna be
But pollution has destroyed my home
Pesticides do not cause flowers to grow
And right now I am just a sad bee
Sean: well mr. bee, why are you so sad?
Izagani: Oh, I’ll tell you why
There are a lack of resources which I really hate
Not much flowers are left for me to pollinate
The industry has taken my home
Trees and bushes have been viciously mowed
So there’s now, no more hives for a bee
And while the bears they are, sometimes a predator
And different types of bees, sometimes hate each other
None of these can even really compare, to human pesticides put into the air
Make me sick, spread disease to us bees
Sean: Wow! That’s horrible Mr. Bee!
Izagani: I know!
Humans when you go out, please appreciate
The crucial bees that you seem to hate
We’re responsible for most of your food
Killing bees it is not really the mood
So for now, please just go save the bees
(song ends)
Izagani: You see little boy, us bees are in a lot of danger. We get involved in nearly all of the processes that make food on this earth, and yet we are dying and disappearing! Our precious resources our disappearing due to deforestation and industry! The leaves, and trees that we once used to make our hives are being chopped, and the flowers we pollinate are getting destroyed as well. You see, we do have some predators like bears who eat honey, and some competition in the sense that other bee populations often want to use our wildflowers, but our real enemy has become human impact. HUmans have been releasing pesticides that kill flowers and also make us sick. I guess you can say that I am really bee-pressed
Sean: With all of your habitats going away as well as all of your flowers, does that mean that your carrying capacity is also decreasing?
Izagani: Of course!
Sean: I thought so, with the decreasing amount of resources and hives to live in, it would seem that your ecosystem can’t support that large of a population anymore.
Izagani: Exactly, and our disappearance hurts everyone in the process.
Sean: Mr. Bee, how exactly do you interact with your ecosystem?
Izagani: I interact with other plants and animals in a multitude of ways. My place in the food web is odd, as I help the producers grow so the consumers may be able to eat.
(Kian as the flower comes in)
Izagani: You see, I come in as a pollinator, and I help spread the seeds of the flower and other plants throughout the ecosystem
(Rub up against kian)
Izagani: I drop the seeds everywhere and they grow into full size plants, which are then eaten up by the consumers
Sean: Wow! That’s amazing
Izagani: So I guess you can say that I hold the whole ecosystem together
Sean: Mr. Bee, how do you help cycle matter and energy across the ecosystem?
Izagani: well, as I said, I’m heavily involved with plants. And of course you know that plants create energy via photosynthesis and create glucose. Well, since I spread plant growth, I spread the amount of energy producers, then the animals consume these pants and in turn use them to create ATP themselves in cellular respiration. I personally get my energy from the sweet nectar of flowers, by in any case, I am in charge of a great deal of the energy flow of the environment. And of course you know about the 10% rule of energy. Well, since I create so many plants, I’m able to help create enough energy for the tertiary consumer since some energy is lost as each trophic level.
Sean: So you’re almost like energy control!
Izagani: Exactly! Us bees are also heavily involved in the carbon cycle of the world, as the very plants that we pollinate take in CO2 on the daily, and the carbon they store is passed on to other animals. However, there has been an exponential increase in CO2 due to human activity, and the pollen and different parts of the plant are acting very sensitive to it. This is making the food I get from plants less nutritious and it makes me weak. An imbalance in the carbon cycle due to a disproportionate amount of it in the atmosphere is hurting me! All of the plants and beings in the biosphere are negatively impacted when I am negatively impacted, as I make much of their food.
Sean: Wow looks like we need to take action now before it gets any worse
(evil music starts to play)
Sean: Oh no, what is that ominous sound?
Izagani: I know what it is, big industry has come to destroy us!
(Ethan enters)
Ethan: Mwahahahahaha! I am evil Mr. Industry, and I have come to deforest your lands, put carbon into the air with my big machines, and take your homes so I can make money!
Izagani: Oh no!
(Ethan kills kian)
Izagani: Not the flower!
Ethan: Do not fear little bee I am just building a new mall over this nature area, no harm shall be done.
Sean: But no! You can’t do that! (sean proceeds to explain how hurting the plants destroys homeostasis as the balance of plants and animals is out of whack and the bees maintain it)
Izagani: Yeah! (Talk about how this is causing a lack of plants and decreasing the amount of animals, less food for us all)
Kian: (Stands up, starts talking about how getting rid of the plants gets rid of the bees, which gets rid of the animals leading to a lack of biodiversity and that it is harmful)
Sean: (says more about biodiversity)
Ethan: Wtf I thought you were dead!
Izagani (talk about how humans depend on food and should not destroy the area for that reason)
Ethan thinks for a second, but decides he does not care and starts to destroy everything
Proceed to start to die, then sing lucid bees
Ethan expresses a change of heart, we sing don’t you forget about bees together
Content
Individual: A single living organism ----> Population: A species that lives in the same habitat ----> Community: Populations of different species interacting together ----> Ecosystem: How the communities interacts with their environment ----> Biome: A group of ecosystems that have similar climates and other factors ----> Biosphere: All biomes together make up the biosphere, basically any place that there is life on earth
Abiotic Factors: The nonliving parts of an environment; physical rather than biological factors
Biotic Factors: The living parts of an environment; biological factors
Carrying Capacity: The maximum amount of life an area of land can support without populations decreasing or changing their lifestyle drastically. The overall carrying capacity of all of the bees environments is decreasing because of all of the resources we take as humans.
Ecological triangle: a triangle is used to show the structure of the trophic levels of energy transfer. The three types of ecological triangle are below.
The energy transfer from one trophic level to the next is inefficient. Because of this inefficiency, there is only enough food for a few top level consumers, but there is lots of food for low level consumers down on the food chain. There are fewer consumers than producers. Only 10% of the energy transfers from one trophic level to the next.
Biomass: Plant or animal material used for energy production. Human industry also uses biomass in the form of fossil fuels. By taking out so much biomass and putting very little back in, humans are wrecking the biosphere and harming all wildlife, not just bees.
Symbiosis: Any type of biological interaction between two different organisms; they can be from the same or different species.
Biodiversity: The variety of living organisms in an ecosystem. Bees aid in biodiversity because they allow more flowers and plants to grow, which makes it possible for more species to survive. Bees benefit from biodiversity because multiple types of flowers means that more flowers can grow everywhere, leading to more nectar for the bees.
Population Density: The measure of the amount of life in a given area. Humans have a very high population density on average, which is why we need to steal resources from other places in order to stay alive.
Population Limiting Factors: Factors that can prevent a population from growing. Density dependent factors are limiting factors that do or do not affect the population based on how many organisms there are. These include food supply, living space, and more. Density independent factors are limiting factors that do not change based on population density, like natural disasters.
Carbon Cycle: Cycle where carbon travels from organisms/individuals to plants to the atmosphere, back to plants to the soil (or through waste/decay) and fossil fuels take it back to the atmosphere. The carbon cycle relies heavily on the bees because the bees pollinate the flowers and plants that undergo photosynthesis, which is a key step of the carbon cycle.
Water Cycle: Cycle where water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land. Bees contribute to the water cycle by helping plants stay alive. These plants then undergo transpiration, one of the ways in which water is purified and returned to the atmosphere.
Nitrogen Cycle: Cycle where nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmosphere and biosphere. Multiple types of bacteria aid in converting nitrogen into usable sources for plants, and these plants need the bees to stay alive and continue the nitrogen cycle.
Disturbance of Homeostasis: Homeostasis is the state in which life functions best. It is a state of balance where all aspects of an ecosystem match up. Nothing is dominant and nothing is dominated, there are enough resources for all organisms to continue life in a stable manner. Humans have been constantly disturbing homeostasis ever since the industrial revolution. Deforestation has taken away the environment and habitat in which bees thrive, massive carbon emissions by human industry have weakened bees, and pesticides that humans use in agriculture simply kill bees directly. Humans have knocked ecosystems all over the world out of homeostasis because we use non-natural means to gain without giving back.
Reflection
Although the actual finished project was great, I feel like I personally regressed in a few areas during this project. My time management, which I normally consider pretty good, was not as perfect for our Save the Bees project. I found myself pressed for time a lot, and I will have to improve if I want the next project to go well. For example, I finished my part of the script, but not all of my group had finished theirs. However, I did not help them out, and as a result, our skit was very lopsided. Time management also relates to work ethic, which I could have done better on for this project. There were many times when I just sat around and did nothing during the composition of our songs. This can be partially accounted for because I worked on other parts of the project, while my group members made our songs. But I know that I could have worked harder. I will do better next project.
On the bright side of things, I believe that I improved in the categories that I sought to improve in from the past. I was more patient during this project. By this I mean that I was more tolerant when I had to wait for things to get done and I tried to be more cheerful and nice all around. When Izagani was composing, there were times when there was nothing for me to do. Instead of pestering him to let me help, I sat back and trusted that he would get the job done, which he did. Also, as a result of my not being experienced in GarageBand, I was able to tone down my leadership a little, which my past groups had advised me to do. Like I said before, I had to step back and let Izagani take the reins when it was time to make our song and final presentation. This was a good experience that I will have to get used to if I am going to work with smart people going forward.
Individual: A single living organism ----> Population: A species that lives in the same habitat ----> Community: Populations of different species interacting together ----> Ecosystem: How the communities interacts with their environment ----> Biome: A group of ecosystems that have similar climates and other factors ----> Biosphere: All biomes together make up the biosphere, basically any place that there is life on earth
Abiotic Factors: The nonliving parts of an environment; physical rather than biological factors
Biotic Factors: The living parts of an environment; biological factors
Carrying Capacity: The maximum amount of life an area of land can support without populations decreasing or changing their lifestyle drastically. The overall carrying capacity of all of the bees environments is decreasing because of all of the resources we take as humans.
Ecological triangle: a triangle is used to show the structure of the trophic levels of energy transfer. The three types of ecological triangle are below.
- Pyramid of numbers: The number of organisms at each trophic level in a food chain
- Biomass pyramid: The amount of living matter in a food chain. (Dry weight)
- Energy pyramid: Displays the energy flow from level to level
The energy transfer from one trophic level to the next is inefficient. Because of this inefficiency, there is only enough food for a few top level consumers, but there is lots of food for low level consumers down on the food chain. There are fewer consumers than producers. Only 10% of the energy transfers from one trophic level to the next.
Biomass: Plant or animal material used for energy production. Human industry also uses biomass in the form of fossil fuels. By taking out so much biomass and putting very little back in, humans are wrecking the biosphere and harming all wildlife, not just bees.
Symbiosis: Any type of biological interaction between two different organisms; they can be from the same or different species.
- Commensalism: where one organism benefits and the other is not affected at all. An example of this would be barnacles on whales.
- Mutualism: both of the organisms benefit off of each other with neither being harmed. An example of this would be bees and flowers.
- Competition: when two or more organisms rely on the same resource. An example of this would be lions and cheetahs both preying on gazelles.
- Parasitism: where one individual benefits and the other is harmed. An example of this would be fleas sucking blood from a dog.
Biodiversity: The variety of living organisms in an ecosystem. Bees aid in biodiversity because they allow more flowers and plants to grow, which makes it possible for more species to survive. Bees benefit from biodiversity because multiple types of flowers means that more flowers can grow everywhere, leading to more nectar for the bees.
Population Density: The measure of the amount of life in a given area. Humans have a very high population density on average, which is why we need to steal resources from other places in order to stay alive.
Population Limiting Factors: Factors that can prevent a population from growing. Density dependent factors are limiting factors that do or do not affect the population based on how many organisms there are. These include food supply, living space, and more. Density independent factors are limiting factors that do not change based on population density, like natural disasters.
Carbon Cycle: Cycle where carbon travels from organisms/individuals to plants to the atmosphere, back to plants to the soil (or through waste/decay) and fossil fuels take it back to the atmosphere. The carbon cycle relies heavily on the bees because the bees pollinate the flowers and plants that undergo photosynthesis, which is a key step of the carbon cycle.
Water Cycle: Cycle where water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land. Bees contribute to the water cycle by helping plants stay alive. These plants then undergo transpiration, one of the ways in which water is purified and returned to the atmosphere.
Nitrogen Cycle: Cycle where nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmosphere and biosphere. Multiple types of bacteria aid in converting nitrogen into usable sources for plants, and these plants need the bees to stay alive and continue the nitrogen cycle.
Disturbance of Homeostasis: Homeostasis is the state in which life functions best. It is a state of balance where all aspects of an ecosystem match up. Nothing is dominant and nothing is dominated, there are enough resources for all organisms to continue life in a stable manner. Humans have been constantly disturbing homeostasis ever since the industrial revolution. Deforestation has taken away the environment and habitat in which bees thrive, massive carbon emissions by human industry have weakened bees, and pesticides that humans use in agriculture simply kill bees directly. Humans have knocked ecosystems all over the world out of homeostasis because we use non-natural means to gain without giving back.
Reflection
Although the actual finished project was great, I feel like I personally regressed in a few areas during this project. My time management, which I normally consider pretty good, was not as perfect for our Save the Bees project. I found myself pressed for time a lot, and I will have to improve if I want the next project to go well. For example, I finished my part of the script, but not all of my group had finished theirs. However, I did not help them out, and as a result, our skit was very lopsided. Time management also relates to work ethic, which I could have done better on for this project. There were many times when I just sat around and did nothing during the composition of our songs. This can be partially accounted for because I worked on other parts of the project, while my group members made our songs. But I know that I could have worked harder. I will do better next project.
On the bright side of things, I believe that I improved in the categories that I sought to improve in from the past. I was more patient during this project. By this I mean that I was more tolerant when I had to wait for things to get done and I tried to be more cheerful and nice all around. When Izagani was composing, there were times when there was nothing for me to do. Instead of pestering him to let me help, I sat back and trusted that he would get the job done, which he did. Also, as a result of my not being experienced in GarageBand, I was able to tone down my leadership a little, which my past groups had advised me to do. Like I said before, I had to step back and let Izagani take the reins when it was time to make our song and final presentation. This was a good experience that I will have to get used to if I am going to work with smart people going forward.